Keeping alive the Islamic tradition of scholarship, insight, and purification...one day at a time.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Pearls of Wisdom 345

1. During prayer I give myself over to the Lord
delight myself in zealous worship.
The window of my soul opens wide
and the Book of God comes in view
to fill my house with grace and light.

2. Demolish this house that a hundred more
may be built. Do not be afraid that treasure
lies beneath this house. A thousand houses
more shall you build with just one treasure in
hand. This house is destined to fall to ruin.
That treasure is bound to be unearthed, but
then that treasure will not be yours.

3. Your power comes from the power of God,
not from the veins or the beating heart.
The power of the saints comes from God,
not from feasts and trays of provisions.
They are created from the light that
transcends the angel and the spirit alike.

4. The light of God is an ornament of wisdom.
That is the meaning of "light upon light."
The light of reason draws toward the earth.
The light of God carries you aloft.
Things of reason are of the lower world.
The light of God is an ocean,
reason merely dewdrop.

5. Knowledge has two wings. Conjecture is
one wing. Conjecture alone is lacking and
cuts short the flight. The one-winged bird
continues to struggle, hoping to reach the
nest somehow with one wing. And then wisdom
shows his shining face. Delivered from conjecture,
the bird now spreads both wings (and soars once
again). [Mawlana Rumi]